These links are made for spamming (22 February 2015)

DiversityMediocrityIllusion | Martin Fowler (January 13): “A common argument against pushing for greater diversity is that it will lower standards, raising the spectre of a diverse but mediocre group.” Martin Fowler explains why that’s nonsense.

On the Wadhwa Within, and Leaving | Medium (February): “That’s why I’m wary of the villainization of Vivek Wadhwa. For all that he is cartoonishly bad, going after him full force has the effect of drawing a bright line between Good People who see and crow over the error of Wadhwa’s ways and Bad People like Vivek. “

Video Games’ Blackness Problem | Evan Narcisse on Kotaku (February 19): “I decided to email with several prominent black critics and game developers to start a conversation. What is the source of video gaming’s blackness problem? What is to be done? I enlisted games researcher and critic Austin Walker, Treachery in Beatdown City developer Shawn Alexander Allen, Joylancer developer TJ Thomas and SoulForm developer and Brooklyn Gamery co-founder Catt Small to talk about what we all thought.”

I Pretended to Be a Male Gamer to Avoid Harassment | Daily Life (December 11): “Things went along smoothly until I started playing at the top level of WoW (World of Warcraft). To participate, you have to join a ‘guild’ — a large group of people who can commit to playing for long sessions. Being allowed into a guild is like a job interview, and as part of that process (like proving I had access to voice chat) I had to reveal that I was a girl.”

“Lean the f*** away from me”: Jessica Williams, “impostor syndrome” and the many ways we serially doubt women | Salon.com (February 18): “After a week of intense speculation about who would be taking over “The Daily Show,” Jessica Williams addressed the rumors that she was (or at least should be) the heir apparent for host. In a series of tweets, Williams thanked people for the support, but said she wouldn’t be sitting behind the anchor desk any time soon. (…) A little while later, a writer for the Billfold responded to Williams’ announcement with a piece that claimed she was a “victim” of impostor syndrome, and that she needed to “lean in.” “

Feminist writers are so besieged by online abuse that some have begun to retire | The Washington Post (February 20): “Jessica Valenti is one of the most successful and visible feminists of her generation. As a columnist for the Guardian, her face regularly appears on the site’s front page. She has written five books, one of which was adapted into a documentary, since founding the blog Feministing.com. She gives speeches all over the country. And she tells me that, because of the nonstop harassment that feminist writers face online, if she could start over, she might prefer to be completely anonymous.”

Life Hacks for the Marginalized | Medium (February 16): “Being human is hard! It’s even harder when your humanity is brought into question on a daily basis. But don’t let that get you down! So you’re not white/straight/male/abled/cisgendered/thin/rich — that doesn’t mean your life is over! It just means it’s much, much, much, much, much, much harder.
Luckily, we have some time-saving tips that can help! By “help,” we mean “mildly mitigate your problems.” To solve them completely, try building a time machine and either engineering a whole new history that gives your people more power, or fast-forwarding to a post-patriarchy utopia.”

The War for the Soul of Geek Culture | moviepilot.com (February 16): “The irony is that while externally, geeks are being accepted as a whole, internally, the story is much different. There’s an ugly core of nastiness coming from a very vocal minority, and as geek culture continues to expand, they only grow louder. And while the nastier moments of that ugly minority are starting to be recognized and picked up by mainstream media, it’s still largely our problem. Simply put, there is a war being waged right now for the soul of geek culture. And it’s a hell of a lot uglier than you realize.”

Binary Coeds | BackStory with the American History Guys (February 6): “The idea [of] the male programmer may be a stereotype, but having a male-heavy workforce is a real issue for the industry. Companies see a big gender disparity when they look at their technical workforce, and many are asking themselves how to get more women into computer science. But when you look at the history of computer programming, the question actually looks a little different. It’s less about how to get women into computer science than about how to get women back into computing.”

#ScienceWoman Special Project | Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls (February 16): “Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls is teaming up with the hit PBS Digital Studios science YouTube show It’s Okay To Be Smart to celebrate amazing women in science. We’ve got a special project planned for the beginning of March, but we can’t do it without YOU!”

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1 thought on “These links are made for spamming (22 February 2015)”

I try not to re-share too many posts by men about feminism (usually don’t add much and drown out womens’ voices), but the Fowler piece (by one of the Agile Manifesto folks) was pleasing, and is likely to be have some influence in Agile circles. Original stats analogy (as far as I recall, and I love the marble color footnote), goes further into intersectional aspects, constructive suggestions for hiring/outreach.